Thoughtful Posted November 3, 2018 Posted November 3, 2018 Have you ever left out certain cards from your decks? l ask because l recently just heard of several people leaving out the Death, Tower, and Devil cards. And another reader to my amazement leaves out all Swords cards as well Death, Tower, and Devil. Would you still be able to get a credible reading from doing this, its not something that l have ever thought about doing myself. Do you know anyone who does this? What are your thoughts or experiences on this. Would be interested to hear from you.
Guest libra Posted November 3, 2018 Posted November 3, 2018 Have you ever left out certain cards from your decks? l ask because l recently just heard of several people leaving out the Death, Tower, and Devil cards. And another reader to my amazement leaves out all Swords cards as well Death, Tower, and Devil. Would you still be able to get a credible reading from doing this, its not something that l have ever thought about doing myself. Do you know anyone who does this? What are your thoughts or experiences on this. Would be interested to hear from you. I'd probably tell them to seek The Good Tarot or a Doreen Virtue deck, so the general idea of the cards are there, but softened. I couldn't real like that, personally. That's basically a list of my favourite cards for growth and development.
Raggydoll Posted November 3, 2018 Posted November 3, 2018 Never with tarot decks, but I have left out cards from oracle decks in the past. So it depends :)
Saturn Celeste Posted November 3, 2018 Posted November 3, 2018 Have you ever left out certain cards from your decks? l ask because l recently just heard of several people leaving out the Death, Tower, and Devil cards. And another reader to my amazement leaves out all Swords cards as well Death, Tower, and Devil. Would you still be able to get a credible reading from doing this, its not something that l have ever thought about doing myself. Do you know anyone who does this? What are your thoughts or experiences on this. Would be interested to hear from you. I did when I was learning. For some reason I really picked up the minor arcana faster than I did the Majors and court cards. So for a little while I only read with the major arcana, the aces and the court cards. All the rest of the minor arcana was left out. But this was for learning. It really helped because I got more used to the major arcana and the court cards. It taught me not to just look at the court cards as people but instead as energy to give me a better rounded reading.
Carus Posted November 3, 2018 Posted November 3, 2018 I get the idea that leaving out cards can be an issue. You are not changing the truth by leaving them out you are just muddying the waters and making it harder to see. Leaving the cards out won't change anything it just seems like hobbling yourself. You could say you are trying to see only with rose tinted glasses. Sometimes this can be seen when people don't understand the value of the "bad bits" the fact that transformation and change can be painful. You can find some people just don't want to see anything negative. I can't really sympathise with it if you are only leaving out so called "negative" cards. This of course is different to leaving out cards when trying to learn and focus on certain elements of the deck.
gregory Posted November 3, 2018 Posted November 3, 2018 Accidental leavings out are one thing (a card stuck to the box and so on.) I think the tarot spirits or whatever can handle that. And I know some people read with only the majors, and I imagine there is a similar case for reading only the minors. But to take out specific cards is a no-no for me. Doing it deliberately means you are already second guessing the reading, in effect.
Cobweb Posted November 3, 2018 Posted November 3, 2018 I assume people who do it find it works for them - but I can't imagine that deliberately leaving out cards would work for me, whether I was the reader or the sitter. It would be like trying to speak a language but refusing to use half of the vocabulary. Without cards like Death and the Swords, it would be much harder to describe a whole host of emotions/events/ideas. (Besides, I like the Swords, identify strongly with the Queen of Swords and Death is usually my favourite card! :)) But I'd be really interested to hear from anyone who works like this. How does it work? Why does it work? Do you use other cards as meaning transformation or loss or disaster?
Raggydoll Posted November 3, 2018 Posted November 3, 2018 Maybe I should add that I don’t consider majors-only readings to be included in the ‘leaving out cards’ practice. I see it more as a traditional way of reading cards and I will do it from time to time even if it’s not my preferred method. As I said previously I have never left out cards from tarot decks but I have done so with some oracle decks. This is generally only done if there is a card that I find problematic (like on an ethical level and/or something that goes against my core values and beliefs). I have also once excluded a card that represented a concept that just did not resonate with me at all.
Thoughtful Posted November 3, 2018 Author Posted November 3, 2018 Have read all the replies here and like you all, feel it defies the object of doing a full and rounded reading. l understand people working with just the Majors. But people who deliberately leave out certain cards baffles me. Every card has a story which must be told whatever it is. Libra l do agree with you in that they may just as well work with Doreen Virtue cards.
Page of Ghosts Posted November 3, 2018 Posted November 3, 2018 No, I don't do this. A few times I've left a card in the box by accident, but never on purpose. If I want a soft reading I'll use one of my gentler decks. In general I'm prepared to get my ass handed to me when I do a reading or have someone else do it so all cards are welcome >:D I read a blog post on deliberately leaving out cards, I'll see if I can't find it again. It's not for me at all, but maybe it is good for the discussion to read on the benefits someone can find with it. Edit: found the blog post! It's further down on the page. I haven't been terrified of any cards to the extent that I wish they weren't in my deck, but it's an interesting sentiment... https://www.asaliearthwork.com/blog/tarotbloghop-solstice2018
Thoughtful Posted November 4, 2018 Author Posted November 4, 2018 Thanks for the link Page of Ghosts, there is agreement here with what l said that all cards have a story to tell. Life is full of ups and down, good, bad difficulties, happiness, excitement and so on. The tarot reflects all this and more. Leaving out cards which tell an honest or difficult message is tantamount to reading with candy floss, all sweetness and fluff. Yes there are some difficult cards that come up in readings, but it is how you relay the message. A reader worth their salt will read them caringly and offer advice as to how they can best deal with the situation. Besides which there will always be more comforting cards in the reading. l still am amazed that a reader can leave out all swords cards as well as the so called baddies. l must admit whenever the Tower card comes up in my own readings l groan, but it is a good warning and never as bad as l think it will be. Usually some minor disruption in my life.
ThreeCircleTarot Posted November 4, 2018 Posted November 4, 2018 I despise when tarot decks have extra cards added to them cause I feel like the tarot succinctly expresses all experience already. I leave the fountain card out of my fountain tarot, for instance. The creators' reasoning was that we need a new card to represent how technology has affected our lives and the collective consciousness and interconnectedness of our globalized world and blah blah blah. Tried doing readings with it and I got nothing from it. Literally nothing. So out it goes! I have the moonchild tarot coming in the mail and I fully plan on leaving the three extra cards out of my deck. They can be art pieces for my altar lol
Thoughtful Posted November 4, 2018 Author Posted November 4, 2018 Well that's a different spin, extra cards :) l say leave well alone, the standard deck of cards have lasted for ever without needing extra cards. Or indeed leaving out cards. Most likely extra cards are just a gimmick to try and add some interest and up sales. As you say they can have a use as alter cards.
Guest libra Posted November 4, 2018 Posted November 4, 2018 I despise when tarot decks have extra cards added to them cause I feel like the tarot succinctly expresses all experience already. I leave the fountain card out of my fountain tarot, for instance. The creators' reasoning was that we need a new card to represent how technology has affected our lives and the collective consciousness and interconnectedness of our globalized world and blah blah blah. Tried doing readings with it and I got nothing from it. Literally nothing. So out it goes! I have the moonchild tarot coming in the mail and I fully plan on leaving the three extra cards out of my deck. They can be art pieces for my altar lol The Prisma Visions Deck had Strawberries added to my edition, and man I just LOVE pulling it! It's got this message of "Take what you can from this experience, because it won't last forever!" with an urgency - playful urgency, like a child calling from a garden - and it literally gives me goosebumps. Osho Zen has The Master added to it and it gives me goosebumps in the bad way, and even having pulled the card from the deck, it's like the energy has been steeped into the deck and I'm just not a fan.
AJ-ish/Sharyn Posted November 4, 2018 Posted November 4, 2018 Cherona from AT did lots of paying gigs, and when working at a children's party she asked the parents which they preferred, as her employers. In that situation I'd probably use the Gummy Bear tarot, and let the cards fall where they may. I pitched cards from a Blue Moon Publishing oracle, Way Too Churchy for me. And I've been leery of their decks ever since.
Cobweb Posted November 4, 2018 Posted November 4, 2018 Found this on Little Red Tarot as an explanation of why someone might want to leave out a card: http://blog.littleredtarot.com/removing-triggering-tarot-cards-self-care/ I still think, for me, that it would affect the reading - but I totally get that for someone else the alternative to leaving out a card might be not reading tarot at all... Still curious as to how it works in practice.
Thoughtful Posted November 4, 2018 Author Posted November 4, 2018 Very interesting Cobweb thanks for link. l can understand that a certain card/s could be left out of a reading if reading for yourself especially if they do trigger an unpleasant association or situation. If that was the case though l would want to leave tarot well alone. Perhaps this is why Doreen Virtue has produced her cards for people of a sensitive nature. But would that King of Pentacles in her decks still have triggered that same response hmmm.
Le Fanu Posted November 7, 2018 Posted November 7, 2018 I bought a deck recently - name not important here - and there was one card which I really did not like. Just jarred with the rest of the deck. Plus it wasn’t one of my deal breaker “essential” cards. However I went through the deck card by card on the day I bought it, liked it overall and then left it on my nightstand out of the box. The disliked card was inadvertently dropped on the floor. My dog picked it up, took it to his bed and sat happily chewing it. I’ve written to the publisher twice asking how To go about getting a replacement. I feel it’s meant to be; I’m tempted to just use this deck without the disliked card.
Thoughtful Posted November 7, 2018 Author Posted November 7, 2018 :biggrin: :biggrin: l love your dog he has done that before if my memory serves me. It is said there is no such thing as coincidence, so whatever knocked your card to the ground and into the jaws of your delighted dog wanted it gone. It was no deliberate act on your part to take the card out of the deck so maybe it was meant. If you are happy with it gone so be it.
DanielJUK Posted November 7, 2018 Posted November 7, 2018 obviously if cards trigger you or upset you, you should remove them, we all can make our own choices when using tarot, we can use it however we want that is best for our health, so that is a disclaimer before the rest of my post :) Removing cards really depends on the context. I really believe that in a tarot and oracle deck that every card has a place, by removing some cards you cannot get a complete message which might be helpful and healing for you, even if it is difficult! When reading at a party or group, someone might have to use a deck that is appropriate for the situation, maybe no nudity or whatever. Context is important and if you are doing fun and light hearted readings and you remove some "scary cards" (terms from the post), it would give a party light hearted reading. But what if you are getting a reading or reading for yourself and want to remove cards, I worry that you are missing some of the message. I have had cards that have constantly chased me during difficult periods of life and also I have had really difficult and hard to deal with readings but they had such an important message for me to work through! I have made progress because they were in the reading, they were the solution, I just had to accept it and work on it! My worry with removing scary cards is that people just remove the cards they don't like, like people associate the Hierophant with organised religion and it's figures, Devil with addiction and being trapped and Tower with such a difficult time in life, as examples. Tarot is more than that and those cards are more nuanced, they have a place in the deck. So context is really important. I think you should be able to handle the reading if you ask the question, that's a better way of dealing with this. During difficult periods of my life, I decided that I could not deal with reading on certain things and left them until I felt strong enough to handle it. But if you are doing self-development work and want to remove some cards to heal that is cool. My worry about this is that you get an incomplete message. If you keep getting the King of Swords over and over and just decide to leave it out with future readings, you're not really dealing with the message. They all have a purpose for being there. But I have mysteriously lost cards for a while and then they turn up sometime later but they were not removed by choice :))
Le Fanu Posted November 11, 2018 Posted November 11, 2018 :biggrin: :biggrin: l love your dog he has done that before if my memory serves me yes he has! I wish there was a missing cards section here. I find it odd that LoS don’t reply. But I’m sort of ok without it..
gregory Posted November 11, 2018 Posted November 11, 2018 :biggrin: :biggrin: l love your dog he has done that before if my memory serves me yes he has! I wish there was a missing cards section here. I find it odd that LoS don’t reply. But I’m sort of ok without it.. I'm AMAZED that they don't reply. Try again - try Ric personally ? Great to see you !
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